Dassault Mirage IV

Summary

Description

During the 1950s, France initiated a military program to produce nuclear weapons, necessitating the development of a dedicated supersonic bomber. In May 1956, specifications were drawn up for an aerially refuelable bomber capable of carrying a 3-tonne nuclear bomb 2,000 km. The final specifications were approved in March 1957, leading to competing proposals from Sud Aviation and Nord Aviation; Dassault's proposal, based on a twin-engined night-fighter derived from the Mirage III, was selected. The resulting prototype, dubbed Mirage IV 01, resembled the Mirage IIIA but with double the wing surface, twice the engines, and three times the internal fuel, incorporating advanced features like machined planks, tapered sheets, and integral fuel tanks. The 01 was an experimental prototype designed to address the challenges of sustained supersonic flight, which no aircraft had previously achieved. Built over 18 months at Dassault's Saint-Cloud plant, it conducted its maiden flight on 17 June 1959, piloted by General Roland Glavany. On September 19, 1960, the Mirage IV prototype set a world record for speed on a 1000-kilometer closed circuit at 1,822 km/h, and further improved the record to 1,972 km/h on a 500 km closed circuit.

The Mirage IV shares design features and a visual resemblance to the Mirage III fighter, featuring a tailless delta wing and a single square-topped vertical fin. The wing is significantly thinner to allow better high-speed performance and has a thickness/chord ratio of only 3.8% at the root and 3.2% at the tip, making it the thinnest built in Europe at that time. The Mirage IV is powered by two Snecma Atar turbojets, fed by two air intakes on either side of the fuselage that had intake half-cone shock diffusers. The aircraft has 14,000 litres of internal fuel. A refueling probe is built into the nose. The two-man crew, pilot and navigator, were seated in tandem cockpits, each housed under separate clamshell canopies. A bombing/navigation radar is housed within an oblique-facing radome underneath the fuselage between the intakes and aft of the cockpit. The Mirage IV has two pylons under each wing, with the inboard pylons being normally used for large drop tanks of 2,500-litre capacity. No cannon armament was ever fitted aboard the type. From 1972 onward, some aircraft were also equipped to carry the CT52 reconnaissance pod in the bomb recess, with three or four long-range cameras or an infrared line scanner.

The Mirage IV was capable of carrying a single AN-11 or AN-22 free-fall nuclear bomb in a fuselage recess under the engines. Alternatively, it could carry up to sixteen 454 kg (1,000 lb) conventional bombs, though this configuration was rarely employed in practice. From 1972 onward, some aircraft were equipped to carry the CT52 reconnaissance pod for strategic reconnaissance missions. Beginning in the 1980s, a number of Mirage IVs were retrofitted with a centerline pylon to carry the Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP) stand-off nuclear missile. The aircraft also featured two pylons under each wing, with the inboard pylons typically used for large 2,500-litre (660 gal (US)) drop tanks, and the outer pylons often carrying ECM and chaff/flare dispenser pods to supplement the internal countermeasures systems, such as the Barax NG jammer pod and the BOZ expendables dispenser. The Mirage IV could also be fitted with 12 solid-fuel rockets for rocket-assisted take off (RATO).

Deliveries of the Mirage IV to the French Air Force commenced in February 1964, with the first squadron becoming operational by October of the same year. Eventually, the bomber force comprised nine squadrons, each with four aircraft, strategically dispersed across different bases to mitigate the risk of a complete knockout by enemy strikes. From 1964 to 1971, the Mirage IV served as France's sole means of delivering nuclear ordnance, holding 36 aircraft on active alert, some continuously airborne and others at varying readiness levels, each armed with a nuclear weapon. With aerial refueling, the aircraft could reach key Soviet targets such as Moscow, Murmansk, and various Ukrainian cities. Initially employing a high-altitude attack profile, the Mirage IVA was later modified for low-altitude penetration in response to improved surface-to-air missile defenses, reducing attack speed and combat radius. In the 1980s, 18 Mirage IVs were retrofitted to carry the Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP) stand-off missile, becoming the Mirage IVP, which involved extensive modifications and updates to the aircraft's radar, electronics, navigation, and flight control systems. The bomber role was formally retired in 1996 and transferred to the Mirage 2000N. The remaining Mirage IVPs transitioned to strategic reconnaissance, seeing service in Bosnia, Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. The type was finally retired completely in 2005. The Mirage IV was exclusively operated by the French Air Force.

Main Variants:

• Mirage IV 01: The initial prototype, visually similar to the Mirage III, served as an experimental platform to address challenges related to prolonged supersonic flight.

• Mirage IVA: The primary production version, slightly larger than the initial prototype, was designed as a supersonic strategic bomber and deep-reconnaissance aircraft.

• Mirage IVB: A proposed larger variant with more powerful engines and increased wing area, intended for two-way strike missions, but ultimately cancelled due to cost considerations.

• Mirage IVR: Reconnaissance variant, 12 aircraft were equipped to carry the CT52 reconnaissance pod, for low and high altitude missions and with different camera configurations.

• Mirage IVP: An upgraded version of the IVA, equipped with a centerline pylon to carry the ASMP stand-off missile and featuring modernized radar, electronics, and cockpit systems.

Technical specifications

Current operating countries

No country is operating the Mirage IV in 2025.

All operators

France

Armament

Bombs payload:

• Nuclear Dassault AN-11
• Nuclear Dassault AN-21
• Nuclear Dassault AN-22

Photo of Mirage IV